Teeters eyeing 10 sec barrier
April 24, 2014
Less than a week removed from running a 10.14 in the 100 meters, the No. 3 time in the NCAA, Oklahoma State's
John Teeters answered some questions about his time as a sprinter at OSU.
On what drove his decision to transfer from Tulsa to OSU:
“When I sent my transfer request, I sent a letter to OSU. I know they didn’t really have a sprint program, but I thought ‘Why not?’ I verbally committed to OU, but they basically cleaned out their staff and nobody told me. After that, I met Diego [Flaquer] and I’m so glad I did. He is the main reason I came here. I wanted a personal relationship with my coach and we have that. He made me feel comfortable, and again, he was the main reason I came here.â€
On which schools he rooted for growing up:
“I grew up in an OU household, so everyone was always rooting for the sooners, but I always wanted to play football for LSU. However, after I quit football that went out the door. I started my collegiate track career at Tulsa. I was never a true OSU football fan, but when I started coming up here for football games, that changed instantly. I’m all about the Cowboys now.â€
On being an integral part of the rise of OSU’s sprints program:
“When I first came here, the coaches and I talked about getting the sprint program on the map. I remember the talk starting about us possibly getting
Tyreek Hill, and that was big for us. I remember someone I knew from another Big 12 school asking when OSU started getting sprinters and I was like, ‘This year, man. We’re coming up!’ It’s fun to be part of starting a program like this.â€
On his friendship with Tyreek Hill:
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“He motivates me, for sure. He puts a fire under me. I see the success he has and I want it, too. We keep each other competitive. I know if he wasn’t here, I wouldn’t be competitive as I am. He definitely pushes me. We are supportive toward each other. It’s not really like a ‘Hey look what I ran kind of thing,’ we are just looking to make each other better.â€
On the types of music he listens to when it’s time to race:
“I listen to a mixture of things. I’ll go from a sort of dance music, to dubstep, to house music. It gets my spirit lifted, in a way. However, when it’s time to race, I want to listen to hardcore rap music. It gets me pumped up. Artists like Ace Hood, Meek Mill, Kevin Gates and Young Jeezy. I like anything that has a good flow to it. I’ve been listening to a lot of Kendrick Lamar lately.â€
On whether he was always the fastest kid in his class growing up:
“I was always up there. I was quick. I was always the fastest for the first 40 yards or so, but I wasn’t great from a stamina standpoint. I always ended up getting caught, eventually. I feel like I was a late bloomer, because when I hit my growth spurt I slowed down, and it took a while to get the speed back.â€
On when he realized he could sprint competitively:
“Sprinting kind of found me. I quit football my junior year, and the year before that I tried to be a jumper for the track team. It was much more technical than I thought. At one meet the coaches threw me into the 100 meters and I ran an 11.5 or something. It wasn’t anything special, but I ran a good split on a relay as well, and they asked me to be on the school’s relay. My junior year, after training a bit, I started to realize I could sprint. I went to an indoor meet in Arkansas and got second in the 60 meters. After that, I figured I should stick with track.â€
On his goals for sprinting at OSU:
“I want to break the 10 second mark, legally, in the 100 meters. I think that would be really cool. Overall, I just want to be the best that I can be. I would like to break 6.5 in the 60 meters and go low-20s in the 200 meters. I want to be competing at the national level.â€
On setting and competing for school sprint records:
“It’s kind of weird. It’s kind of shocking, too. I work so hard. I really think if you work hard, there’s no limit to what you can do. It’s cool to see myself in the record books at a big school like this. It reminds me that my work is paying off. I’m not where I want to be yet, but I’m taking big steps toward getting there.â€
On his favorite thing about Oklahoma State:
“The people here are so friendly. I could be walking to class and get smiles from people I don’t know. I always see people doing stuff like holding doors for each other, too. I think OSU is full of a lot of the good-natured people the state of Oklahoma has to offer. It brings a humble and positive atmosphere to the school.â€